The Lions took a battering, to their ­bodies rather than their pride, after a bloody and brutal encounter that the tourists felt transcended what was acceptable in the disinfected modern game, and they were not just referring to the alleged eye-gouging incident involving Schalk Burger in the opening seconds.

The outside-half Stephen Jones described the 99 minutes the match lasted as the most physical he had endured in his long career. There may not have been any of the 99 calls that characterised the 1974 tour here, most notably in the Battle of Boet Erasmus, but six players spending at least the evening in hospital and a seventh left with a shut left eye said everything about the ferocity of the exchanges, with the Lions as uncompromising and unyielding as the Springboks.

"They seemed to be able to get away with a lot of punching, gouging and ­whatnot," said Jones's half-back partner, Mike Phillips. "We are the straight guys and we came out second best. It is not good enough. Burger should have been shown the red card. You can't do things like that, just as you should not get away with throwing punches off the ball.

"Luke [Fitzgerald] said he had to pull Burger's hands off his eyes. That's not sport, it's not the way we play and it is disgusting. There were also other gouging incidents in the match. Things were going on off the ball all through the game. You have got to leave it in the referee's hands, but a couple of dodgy decisions by him in the second half cost us. We felt on top, dominant and confident we were the ­better side and to lose with the final kick of the game was devastating."

The Lions have had a policy of not complaining on this tour, not about the weakened opposition they faced in the warm-up matches, not about the decision to give them two Tests at altitude, not about the itinerary in general or the tactics employed against them, but that was lost in the flow of adrenaline pumping through the bowels of the stadium as they reflected on a series that was well within their grasp.

The Lions' hotel in Pretoria resembled a casualty station. The prop Adam Jones had his right arm in a sling after dislocating his shoulder, the centre Jamie Roberts was similarly attired after injuring his right wrist, Brian O'Driscoll was nursing a sore head after suffering concussion, Ronan O'Gara's left eye was closed and Tommy Bowe was nursing a sore elbow. As the Lions left for a two-day safari break before Saturday's third Test in Johannesburg, their head doctor, James Robson, stayed behind to wait for the prop Gethin Jenkins to be discharged from hospital after having an operation on a fractured right cheekbone. In addition, the South Africa back-rower, Danie Rossouw, was treated in hospital for concussion and Jean de Villiers left the field with an elbow injury.

"It was the most physical game I have ever played in," said Stephen Jones. "The collisions were massive and the tempo unremitting. You expect it to be physical when you play South Africa but this was a step up again. I found it a hugely challenging match. It was a test of character as well as skill and to lose at the very end was heartbreaking. We said when we first gathered in Bagshot the week before flying out that our first aim was to put pride back in the jersey. I think we have achieved that, if not in the manner we intended."

There is a wider issue. Professionalism has given the players the time to become far fitter and stronger than their amateur predecessors. Are they growing too big for their bodies? Is the game becoming American football without the padding and helmets?

"It was not the biggest casualty list I have seen, but it was one of the most distressing," said Robson. "A number of those left standing struggled to walk into the treatment room this morning."